Killers of Ephraim Elrom Given Jail Terms of Up to 30 Years by a Martial Law Court in Istanbul

Five members of a Turkish extremist group were today sentenced to jail for up to 30 years for their part in the 1971 murder of Ephraim Elrom, the Israeli Consul General in Istanbul, and the fatal shooting of three Western radar technicians in 1972, according to reports reaching here from Istanbul.

The sentence was imposed on the five, all said to be members of the Turkish People’s Liberation Army, by a Martial Law Court in Istanbul. The underground organization had claimed responsibility for the killings. Two of the five were first sentenced to death in the trial which began in 1972 but last year the sentence was commuted under an amnesty for political prisoners. At the same time, 65 other people who were charged with being members of the group were set free.

Elrom was killed after being kidnapped from his home in May 1971. In March 1972, the three technicians, who had been working at a station on the Black Sea, died during a gun battle between their kidnappers and security forces.